The use of personal watercraft is very popular. Many personal watercrafts are designed to hold more than one person. When more than one person are riding on the watercraft, a rider typically sits close behind the watercraft's operator, and wraps his or her arms around the operator's waist. Since it is mandatory that the operator wears a life jacket, for safety reasons, the rider often has difficulty maintaining a firm grasp on the operator. This is especially problematic because the rider can be seriously injured if the rider looses his or her grip and falls off the watercraft.
Handles on safety vests are known, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,019 to Smith and U.S. Pat. No. 5,619751 to Ray et al. The entire disclosures of each of the aforementioned U.S. patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference. However, the known handles are generally permanently affixed to the safety vests, and thus not readily customizable for different types of vests or sizes of riders. Known handles that are detachable employ snaps that are prone to disengaging at undesirable times during operation. These handles are also not readily adaptable for uses other than safety vests.
There is a continuing need for a reliable detachable handle that may be used with a conventional personal floatation device. Desirably, the detachable handle may also be readily adapted for other uses such as the carrying of a load or package.